FEMINISM

Feminism

Feminism

Introduction

Feminism is the theory that implies that men and women should be treated equally from all facets of life i.e. politically, economically and socially. The term is most often associated to many different movements over the last two decades that have acted to execute this vision of equality by embracing it in law and throughout the culture. Feminism is the struggle for a new human identity. Feminism does not imply a break with the man as a human being but with the idea created through the story that the man is, by definition is superior and the woman is the other side of the mirror. Feminism is a philosophy that struggles for freedom. Feminism is also a new conception of the world as seen through the prism of women, a world where women coexist peacefully, without marginalization and oppression with men. In a nutshell this phenomenon can be described as a way of thinking that encourages gender fairness and equality, based on the principle that women are being deprived at the outset

The phenomenon of feminism worldwide in the latter part of the 20th century reflects the diversity of social and cultural theories, political movements, and moral and religious philosophies shaped by the experiences of women. There is no universally accepted form of feminism that represents all of its advocates, but its representatives share a similar vision. Feminist theory continues to question basic assumptions about gender and sexuality, including the understanding of what it means to be a woman. Feminist scholars and activists seek clarity about feminine consciousness, the identity of women, their values, and their ambitions. They address the issue of oppression by men as an issue of power, dominion, and hierarchy. Feminists believe this oppression exists in relation to the identity of women and the challenges they have to face in local and global contexts (Antrobus, p.7).

By the mid-20th century the feminist movement had brought about positive transformation and advances for women. Historically, feminism began as a women's movement that originated at the Seneca Falls Convention (1848) held in New York State. This first wave of feminism formally ended in 1920 with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which secured the right to vote for women. Ironically, the values of the early feminist movement have been so ingrained in Western culture that society generally accepts them, even though individuals who agree with those values may not accept being labeled "feminist." (McCann, C. and Kim, S, p.55).

Feminism, Second Wave

In the late 1960s, after 40 years consumed by economic depression, world war, and cold war fears, women again revisited issues of gender equality, launching a movement that came to be called Second Wave Feminism. Looking beyond the right to vote, many women in the industrialized world, joined by some women from developing nations, asserted new rights and demanded liberation from stereotypical female roles.

A precursor of the post-suffrage women's movement appeared in 1949, when French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) published The Second Sex, a major analysis of ...